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The local bee expert looked at the photos and told me they are supercedure cells, not swarm cells, and I should probably go cut them out. Should I go about getting in there ASAP and breaking them off? In the meantime, I've installed a slotted bottom board during the above pics, to see if that will help matters at all. It looks like there's quite a bit of worker brood, and I'm not sure if those darker cells are a problem or not. Thanks for your advice!

Re: Swarm cells?

I would remove them ASAP. They could be false also. They are located right in the middle of some drone cells. Remove them and then keep an eye on the hive, checking them once a week to see if more develop. They may be wishing to replace(supercedure) the current queen as they make have detected some flaw in her.

Re: Swarm cells?

Trying to cull swarm/supersedure cells is an exercise in futility IMO. It's a rare case that you will out maneuver the bees and change their mind once they've started down this path. Better to work with it and plan a split. Or not.

Re: Swarm cells?

Originally Posted by Gudlyf

The local bee expert looked at the photos and told me they are supercedure cells, not swarm cells, ...

The things that makes these supercedure cells is that they were made by the workers from worker cells and worker eggs. The cells were modified by the worker bees and the young larvae was fed more royal jelly. This is not unusual w/ package bees.

I would not destroy all of these cells. But some of them would be okay.